...
2.0.0 would be the next ABI break, with "-2.0" as API version suffix (the unstable development versions leading up to it would be 1.99.x with a -1.99 API suffix), which would be parallel-installable with 1.0 of course. There are currently no plans for a 2.0 version.

More frequent bug-fix releases

Bug-fix releases may be made from git master or from a 1.x bug-fix branch into which fixes are cherry-picked from git master.

Bug-fix releases will usually not feature new API (at best minor additions like a new utility function or property).

There will be no plugin moves, renaming or plugin merges within a stable bug-fix series.

There will be no upping of version requirements of libraries we depend on (e.g. GLib or libraries plugins depend on) within a stable bug-fix series.

Process (not entirely up-to-date)

At the moment there are six GStreamer modules included in the schedule, which are regularly released:

GStreamer Core

GStreamer Base Plugins

GStreamer Good Plugins

GStreamer Bad Plugins

GStreamer Ugly Plugins

GStreamer Libav Plugins (formerly GStreamer FFmpeg)
Each module will see a major stable release (a new 1.x.0 for even x) every few months. Each major stable release will see a few follow-up 1.x.y bug-fix releases.

Plugin Moves

From time to time, plugins improve in quality sufficiently to warrant moving them from Bad to Good or Bad to Ugly (or sometimes vice versa in cases of neglect). Such plugin moves require simultaneous releases of the modules involved so that we never ship tarballs with conflicting installed plugins.

Plugin moves will only happen during a development series (1.1.x, 1.3.x, etc.) in git master, leading up to a new major stable release (1.2.0, 1.4.0, 1.6.0). No plugin moves will happen within a bug-fix release series.